Il6 A HISTORY OF THE BORGIAS
Any success that might have attended the rabid calum-
nies of the Majesty of Naples was prevented by an occur-
rence of the most startling species.
A mariner of Genoa, called Messer Cristof oro Colombi,
announced to the Spanish Court, in March 1493, the
astounding news of his discovery of a continent. An ex-
plorer's ardour, combined with religious zeal, had made
him seek to extend the boundaries of Christendom. He
had set out in the hope of finding a few islands. He re-
turned to Europe solemnly asserting that he had found a
world. Universal curiosity was awak&ned, and a fresh
expedition planned, with which the intrepid mariner set
forth on a second voyage to prove, and to secure, his prize.
Meanwhile, Don Hernando and Dona Isabella, the Catho-
lic King and Queen of Spain, thought it would be prudent
to bind this new world to their domain by a bond that
easily could not be broken. The Pope, as Ruler of the
World and Earthly Vicar of Jesus Christ, was held to have
authority over all heathen lands, and to His Holiness an
envoy went from Spain commissioned to announce the dis-
covery, and to pray Him graciously to confirm it to the
Catholic King and Queen.
Precipitevolissimevohnente (no other word describes the
act) was issued a Bull, dated "At Rome by St. Peter's, the
year of our Lord's Incarnation, 1493, the fourth day ot the
nones of May, and the first year of Our pontificate/' giv-
ing to Don Hernando and to Dona Isabella, and to their
heirs and successors, all islands and continents discovered
or yet to be discovered, in the western ocean, west and
south of a line to be drawn from the North Pole to the
South Pole, one hundred leagues west of the Agores and
Cape Verde Islands. The language of this Bull is ex-
quisitely touching; strong, pregnant, earnest, and majestic,
as the Authorised Version of the Epistles of St Paul.
The motive undoubtedly is the motive of an Apostle to
convert a world to Christ. The grant is made to the Majesty